RE: Sunday Globe Magazine article on Jerry Williams

["Hakim Madjid" <HMadjid@mindspring.com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org
[mailto:owner-boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org]On Behalf Of Sven
Sven Franklyn Weil writes:

>Or they should do what Europe has always done...use the MW band for
>high-powered national-coverage stations and the FM for local service. But
>that would raise a hue and cry about the "big government" regulating
>programming....

Well actually during the 1930s as the radio broadcast industry started
growing in earnest, something like that was proposed. A few very high power
(100kW and up). AM band stations to cover the whole US.

The radio historians on this list probably know about WLWs 500kW operation
from 1934 to 1939. This was authorized by the FRC (later FCC) as a trial,
for the concept mentioned above. However the explosive growth of the Radio
industry during that decade meant that by the late 1930s there were a many
smaller, lower powered stations on the air. These smaller stations lobbied
the FCC not to authorize any more WLW type 500kW monsters on the air for
fear it would put the smaller stations out of business. Perhaps it was this
type of pressure from the small fry that in 1939 the FCC ordered that WLW
had to go back down to 50kW.

Also of note is that during the time that WLW was running the 500kW, at
night (when it would have *REALLY* mattered) they had to reduce power back
to 50kW because of interference caused to CFRB in Toronto.

But in a word yes, it was thought of at the time.

73, de Hakim (N1ZFF)